While a good understanding of ultrasonography requires thorough knowledge of anatomy and other related medical topics, basic proficiency with ultrasound scanning also requires mastery of several skills that transcend general medical knowledge. By way of example only, ultrasound practitioners should develop: a good understanding of how to relate the shape of three-dimensional (3D) objects to their respective two-dimensional (2D) sections (also known as slices or cuts); precise hand-eye coordination to understand how to move the ultrasound probe in physical space to explore a given 3D shape, while looking at the corresponding visual image on an ultrasound machine; an accurate understanding of scale, useful to relate ultrasound findings to the physical size of the objects undergoing ultrasound imaging; the ability to choose the correct image windows (locations) for placing the ultrasound probe in order to quickly decipher the 3D shape of the item being inspected; and the ability to rapidly and accurately acquire an optimal view (image) of an object or area of interest once an ideal image window (probe location) is attained, which requires highly refined and subtle probe manipulation skills.
These, and other related skills, will be referred to as basic ultrasound skills, in the current state of training, novices are presented directly with the complexity of real ultrasound images of human subjects and expected to acquire the above skills while also learning many other aspects of ultrasonography and clinical medicine at the same time. The problem is that ultrasound images of human subjects provide poor abstractions for basic ultrasound skills. An unsatisfactory understanding of these basic non-medical concepts will impede novices from mastering more advanced material.
Real ultrasound images of human subjects present at least the following challenges: the shape of anatomical structures is often complex and hard to conceptualize; the exact visible boundaries of anatomical regions are blurred and hard to identify; the images are compounded with noise and other artifacts specific to ultrasound imaging, such as shadows and reflections; images of human subjects often are dynamic (e.g., beating heart) or deform during a scan in response to physical compression of the body; the complexity of image window acquisition and subsequent image view optimization can overwhelm new learners.
Therefore, there is a need for a training system and method to efficiently and effectively improve the skill of the ultrasound practitioner without the need of actual patients or subjects.